Sharon Horgan Comedy Series In Works At Amazon From John Hamburg, Ian Helfer & Kapital; Billy Magnussen To Co-Star

EXCLUSIVE: Catastrophe co-creator and star Sharon Horgan is eying another potential starring vehicle at Amazon. The streaming network has given a script-to-series commitment to a comedy series to star Horgan and Billy Magnussoen (Game Night). It hails from Horgan, John Hamburg (Meet the Parents) and his frequent collaborator Ian Helfer. Amazon Studios produces with Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment and Horgan and and Clelia Mountford’s Merman.

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Co-written by Horgan, Hamburg and Helfer and to be directed by Hamburg, the untitled comedy centers on a socially awkward, broke, single woman (Horgan) who launches a self-help company and recruits a handsome former male gymnast (Magnussen) to be the face of it.

The project stems from the overall deal Horgan and Merman inked with Amazon Studios earlier this year. The pact called for Horgan’s longtime TV collaborator, producer Kaplan and his Kapital Entertainment, to be a partner on all content coming out it.

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Separately, writer-director Hamburg and his production company, Particular Pictures, have an exclusive production deal with Kapital. Hamburg and Helfer came up with the idea for the comedy, and Kaplan put them together with Horgan to work on it. Horgan then reached out to Magnussen to star with her on the show after the two appeared together in the feature comedy Game Night. Magnussen also recently was tapped for a lead role in Kapital’s straight-to-series CBS All Access psychological thrillerTell Me a Story, from Kevin Williamson.

Helfer and Hamburg most recently co-wrote the Fox feature Why Him? starring James Franco and Bryan Cranston and directed by Hamburg. Helfer is currently rewriting with Jay Reiss Shrunk, a sequel to Honey I Shrunk the Kids for Disney and David Hoberman; Josh Gad is starring. Helfer is repped by WME and Lighthouse Management & Media.

Hamburg’s feature writing credits also include Along Came Polly and I Love You Man, which he also directed, as well as the Zoolander franchise and the upcoming Night School starring Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish. In TV, he has directed episodes of Judd Apatow’s Undeclared, New Girl and The Grinder. Hamburg is repped by WME and attorneys John Sloss and Jackie Eckhouse.

Amazon Studios

Horgan is the co-creator of critically praised Catastrophe, which she co-writes and co-stars in with Rob Delaney. It earned the duo an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. The series airs on Channel 4 in the U.K. and is carried by Amazon in the U.S. Horgan is also the creator and executive producer of HBO’s Divorce, which hails from Merman and Kapital, and co-creator of Motherland for BBC Two. Horgan is repped by WME, United Agents and Nelson Davis.

Magnussen, who recently wrapped horror thriller Velvet Buzzsaw directed by Dan Gilroy, will next be seen in a lead role opposite Emma Stone and Jonah Hill in Cary Fukanaga’s Netflix limited series Maniac. He’ll also be seen in Ike Barinholtz’s independent feature The Oath, opposite Tiffany Haddish, and in the live action adaptation of Disney’s Aladdin as Prince Anders, directed by Guy Ritchie. Magnussen, who received a Tony nomination for his role as Sigourney Weaver’s love interest in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike., is repped by WME, BRS/Gage Talent Agency, Anonymous Content and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.